The Curley Surround Sound

There’s an age-old marketing adage that people need to hear something seven times before they remember it. While we’re no Mad Men, we recognize the value of reaching people with messages that matter to them more than once. That’s why we approach stakeholder engagement at Curley Company as a surround sound.

What is a Surround Sound?

To reach our clients’ stakeholders with effective messages that they’ll remember, it’s takes more than just one strategy or tactic – you need a multitude of them. From direct one-on-one meetings with stakeholders to targeted digital campaigns, to traditional media tactics, we reach stakeholders from all angles. As we like to say, you need to reach your audiences where they are and talk to them about what they’re already talking about.

How to Create a Surround Sound in 3 Easy Steps:

Step 1.

Before beginning any initiative – large or small – you need to identify the stakeholders who matter most to your success. We walk our clients through a stakeholder mapping process to help determine the who, what and where: who they need to engage, with what messages, and where these audiences are paying attention.

Step 2.

Ultimately, reaching stakeholders and influencing decision makers still hinges on good content – it won’t matter if you reach someone seven times if the message they’re hearing doesn’t resonate. In an increasingly saturated world where people are inundated with thousands of messages a day, it’s even more important that you create a surround sound that effectively reaches your audience with messages that are important to them.

Step 3.

Now it’s time to create the echo chamber around your audiences. But surround sound doesn’t mean tweeting at a member of Congress with the same message seven times. It’s the art of deploying multiple tactics to reach your decision makers where they are – and they are everywhere. They view ads on Twitter; they see billboards on their commutes to and from work; they read op-eds in their local newspapers; and they hear ads on digital podcasts  – all of these are opportunities for your message to resonate.

Conclusion

As you can see from our cartoon, the possibilities to engage are endless. Whether by billboard, blimp, or tweet – the key to creating stakeholder surround sound is to find the channels that resonate with your audience and meet them there with messages that matter to them.